Bee-Themed Study Breaks Highlight Sustainable Food

The Food Literacy Project and the Harvard Undergraduate Beekeepers will provide students with a variety of bee-pollinated foods at a series of Food Future Study Breaks over the next two weeks to raise awareness about the role that bees play in our sustainable food supply.

“The study breaks are a perfect way to disseminate information through delicious food to a large portion of the undergraduate population,” FLP coordinator Louisa Denison said.

Organizers say the study breaks are intended to inform students about a recent unexplained decline in bee populations, a phenomenon which scientists are calling “colony collapse disorder.”

“Despite the fact that [colony collapse disorder] has been getting a lot of media coverage, it is an unknown topic for a lot of people,” Denison said.

A report authored last year by Harvard School of Public Health professor Chensheng A. Lu identified possible causes of the colony collapse disorder. Although scientists have not yet come to a final conclusion regarding the factors contributing to the decline in the bee population decline, Lu’s study focused on the use of insecticides on farms as a potential cause.

According to co-head of the Beekeepers Li E. K. Murphy ’15, maintaining a healthy bee population is critical to developing a sustainable food supply for the future.

"There is a natural connection between bees and food futures," Murphy said.

According an FLP flyer, over one-third of our food supply—including common household foods such as apples, squash, broccoli, and berries—is dependant on the honey bee.